Development of CommunicativeCompetence

319_13_18MAR08

Topics• Intro to communicative competence• Emergence of communicative intents and

functions• Discourse-pragmatic development:

conversations• Sociolinguistic development & language

socializationHoff, pp 241-287

Intro to CommunicativeCompetence

Components of CommunicativeCompetence

• Discourse-Pragmatic knowledge• Beyond the linguistic form: communicative

intentions and functions• Beyond the sentence: broader context of the

communicative interaction• Intentionality and Theory of Mind

• Sociolinguistic knowledge– Sociolects/Registers– Language socialization

What is the relationship betweencommunication and language?

• Independence of language andcommunication

• Communication driving thedevelopment of language?– Motivation– Function before form

• Pragmatic Bootstrapping: Children use thefunction of language – their desire to influenceothers – to break into the formal system oflanguage.

Emergence of Communicative Intentand functions

Bates et al (1975)

• 3 children longitudinal every 2 weeks for 6mos (1=2mos; 1=6mos; 1=12mos)

• Perlocutionary phase (birth - 10 mos)– Signals but no intent

• Illocutionary phase (10-12 mos)– Signals = vocal & gesture = intent– Protoimperatives– Protodeclaratives

• Locutionary phase (12 mos+)– Intents communicated with linguistic forms

What kinds of communicative functions arechildren encoding in holophrases?

Child shouts Child shouts ‘‘MamaMama’’across roomacross room

Calls adultCalls adult’’s name loudlys name loudlyWaits for responseWaits for response

CallingCalling

Child picks up book andChild picks up book andsays says ‘‘book?book?’’

Asks question with aAsks question with awordwordAddresses adult andAddresses adult andwaits for responsewaits for response

RequestingRequesting

Child, unable to push aChild, unable to push apeg through hole, utterspeg through hole, utters‘‘uh uh uhuh uh uh’’ and looks at and looks atmothermother

Word signaling demandWord signaling demandAddresses adult andAddresses adult andwaits for responsewaits for response

Requesting actionRequesting action

MOT: whatMOT: what’’s that?s that?CHI: bow wowCHI: bow wow

Answers adultAnswers adult’’s questions questionAddresses adultAddresses adult

AnsweringAnswering

Child touches dollChild touches doll’’s eyess eyes& says & says ‘‘eyeseyes’’

Use word while attendingUse word while attendingto object or eventto object or event

labelinglabeling

ExampleExampleDefinitionDefinitionSpeech ActSpeech Act

Discourse-Pragmatic Development:Conversation

Piaget: Egocentrism?

Skills for Making Conversation

1. Turn-taking2. Understanding the hearer’s

perspective3. Topic initiation4. Repairs of miscommunication5. Contingent responding: sustaining

dialogue6. Narrative abilities

Turn-Taking• Early emerging: turn-taking with vocalizations by 6 mos• Toddlers respond to speech directed at them, especially

questions• Bloom, Rocissano & Hood (1976): adjacency = first skill

to develop• Responding ≠ understanding

*MOT:what colour is that? (points at a bluehat)

*CHI: blue*MOT:that’s right! That’s a blue hat*MOT: now, what colour are those? (points at

red shoes)*CHI: blue

Understanding the Hearer’sPerspective

• Shared information / old information– Definite articles and pronouns– Null subjects

• New information– Indefinite articles and lexical noun phrases

Understanding the Hearer’sPerspective

• Paradis & Navarro (2001): Subject use by 2 monolingualSpanish and 1 English-Spanish bilingual child

• When do children grasp the form and function of null subjects?Is bilingual = monolingual?– Adult Spanish: Form = 20-30% overt subjects in conversation;

function = omission when old/shared information• Results:

– Monolinguals = both form and function by 2;0– Bilingual = higher % overt subjects; higher % pronouns;

more subjects with old information– Bilingual: English interference or input?

Emilio’s overt subjects 1;8-2;7(monolingual)

0

10

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60

1;8 1;9 1;10 1;10 1;11 2;0 2;1 2;1 2;3 2;4 2;5 2;6 2;7 2;7

Manuela’s overt subjects 1;9-2;6(bilingual)

0

10

20

30

40

50

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1;9 1;11 2;0 2;2 2;5 2;6

Topic Initiation

• Enter a new topic into conversation• Foster (1986): 5 children from 1-24 mos

– Topic initiation increased– Switch from nonverbal to verbal initiation– Topic type expanded

• First = about child• Second = child’s immediate environment• Third = things absent from environment

• Topic initiation dependent on languagedevelopment?

Allison (1;8)/Mother dialogue*MOT: what did you see ? *MOT: what did you see ? [topic 1: MOT initiate][topic 1: MOT initiate]%sit:%sit: Mother and Allison sitting on chair; Allison wearing half-zipperedMother and Allison sitting on chair; Allison wearing half-zipperedjacket; fingers in her mouthjacket; fingers in her mouth*MOT: what did you see over there ?*MOT: what did you see over there ?%%gpxgpx:: <aft> points to monitor<aft> points to monitor*ALI:*ALI: Mommy .Mommy .*MOT: yeah .*MOT: yeah .*MOT: and who else ?*MOT: and who else ?*ALI:*ALI: baby doll .baby doll .*MOT: baby doll ?*MOT: baby doll ?*ALI:*ALI: baby Allison .baby Allison .*MOT: baby Allison .*MOT: baby Allison .*MOT: yes .*MOT: yes .*MOT: are you ready to take your coat off ? *MOT: are you ready to take your coat off ? [topic 2: MOT initiate][topic 2: MOT initiate]

Allison (1;8)/Mother dialogue (cont’d)

*MOT: are you ready to take your coat off ? *MOT: are you ready to take your coat off ? [topic 2 cont[topic 2 cont’’d]d]*ALI: no .*ALI: no .*MOT: no ?*MOT: no ?*MOT: let's*MOT: let's unzipper unzipper it, it (i)s very warm .it, it (i)s very warm .*ALI:*ALI: no !no !%act:%act: resistsresists*ALI:*ALI: on .on .*MOT: oh, well, let's take it off .*MOT: oh, well, let's take it off .*MOT: aren't you a little bit warm ?*MOT: aren't you a little bit warm ?*MOT: besides, it (i)s not raining .*MOT: besides, it (i)s not raining .*ALI:*ALI: children rain . children rain . [topic 3: ALI initiate][topic 3: ALI initiate]*ALI:*ALI: walk .walk .*ALI:*ALI: rain .rain .*MOT: children rain, walk rain, yes .*MOT: children rain, walk rain, yes .

Allison/Mother dialogue

• Allison3.cha (36 child utterances/3 pages)– Topics

• Discussing what Allison sees/saw in the monitor• Taking off Allison’s coat• Story of children in the rain

– Topics initiated by Allison• Story of children in the rain

Repairs of Miscommunication• If breakdown in communication, must re-send

the message - repair• Golinkoff (1986): Children 1;0-1;8 - mostly

nonverbal, but able to repeat or modify signalswhen message failed

• Parents request clarification more often fromolder children

• < 3;0, most repairs are repetition; > 3;0, childrenrevise more often

• Bilingual children: identifying language as sourceof miscommunication?

Allison/Mother dialogue:miscommunication repair

*MOT: Let’s take your coat off.*ALI: up.*MOT: what?*ALI: neck. (repair: different word + gesture = revision)%gpx: points to her neck*MOT: neck?*MOT: what do you want?*ALI: neck. (repair: repetition)*MOT: what’s on your neck?*ALI: zip. (repair: different word + gesture = revision)*ALI: up.%gpx: points to zipper and lifts chin*MOT: zipper up?*MOT: aren’t you a little bit warm?

Contingent Responding:Sustaining Dialogue

• Conversations are build on contingent responses• Bloom, Rocissano & Hood (1976): adult/ child

interaction; 21-36 mos; 3 stages according to MLU• Coding system for children’s utterances:

– Adjacent to adult’s– Adjacent and Noncontingent– Adjacent and Imitative– Adjacent and Contingent

• Results: MLU < 2.0 = nonadjacent & noncontingentproportionally more frequent than contingent andimitation; MLU 3.5-4.0 = contingent most frequentresponse type

Examples of contingent /noncontingent responses

• Adjacent, but noncontingent:*MOT: what do you want to eat?*CHI: pop goes the weasel!

• Adjacent and contingent:*MOT: so we can play now or have a snack or do anything you

want now.*CHI: not now maybe later.

• Contextually contingent, linguistically unrelated:*MOT: where’s the other sock?*CHI: see my sitting on it.

• Contextually contingent, linguistically related:*MOT: pussycat is calling to wolf. Why?*CHI: because he’s up in this building too tall.

Narrative Abilities

• Narratives = recounting past events inconversation

• Children’s early narrative abilities depend onscaffolding (= adult question asking andproviding information to sustain story)

• Children include “generic” information in theirearly narratives

• School-age children can engage in complexstory-telling; unlike preschoolers

Narratives 2;0-4;0

• Narrative 1;8-2;0: Heavy scaffolding*CHI: bandaid.*EXP: bandaid?*EXP: do you need a bandaid?*EXP: did you hurt yourself?*CHI: bandaid.*MOT: yes, that’s right.%sit: enters the room*MOT: who gave you the bandaid?*MOT: was it the nurse at the clinic?*MOT: you were a brave girl.*CHI: bandaid.%gpx: turns toward EXP and points to her arm

Narratives 2;0-4;0

• Narrative 3;0: Minimal scaffolding*CHI: you know what I was doing?*FAT: what?*CHI: I was doing my work.*FAT: your work?*CHI: like I do at home.

• Narrative 4;0: No scaffolding*CHI: I have two sisters, one with blond hair like me and the other

with long black hair.*CHI: And the one with black hair, when she was four like me, she

cut her hair with scissors that aren’t for cutting hair.*CHI: and now she has short hair.

Adults’ Role in Children’s Development ofDiscourse-Pragmatic Skills

• Infant-directed communicative exchanges– Infants are conversation partners– Fostering development of intentionality in

communication?• Joint attention

– Fosters awareness of mental states of others?• Question asking

– Children more likely to respond to questions– Mothers ask a lot of questions to children– Children’s ability to sustain dialogue is based on

questions

Question-asking as Scaffolding: Allison/MotherDialogue

*MOT: it isn’t raining.*ALI: children rain.*ALI: walk.*ALI: rain.*MOT: children rain, walk rain, yes.*MOT: we saw the children walking in the rain, didn’t we? (repetitive)*ALI: car.*MOT: what?*ALI: car.*MOT: who was in the car? (elaborative)*CHI: Mommy.*MOT: what was Mommy doing? (elaborative)*CHI: drive.*MOT: and what were the children doing? (elaborative)

Peer Conversations amongChildren

• Garvey & Hogan (1973)/ Schoeber-Peterson& Johnson (1989): transcripts of child-childconversations

• 3;0-5;0 could sustain conversations for 4-12exchanges

• 4;0: 75% shorter than 12 per topic• Dialogue = small component of young

children’s “conversations”.– Children talk to themselves, to toys

Sociolinguistic Development

Learning to modify languageaccording to context

Children’s Ability to Make Directand Indirect Requests

• Request formulations at 2;0Book read direct (imperative)More juice direct (goal statement)Carol hungry indirect (problem statement)

• Request formulations at 3;0Would you push this? direct (ques)Can you give me one car, please? direct (ques)You could give one to me. indirect (hint)You can make a crown. indirect (hint)

Children’s Ability to be Polite

• Bates (1976): Children 2;10-6;0 told toask a grey-haired puppet for candy.Then told to ask again ‘very nicely’.

• All children could reformulate theirrequests when asked

• > 3;5 used more indirect requests, andmore variety in request forms

Children’s Child Directed Speech

• Older children use CDS with younger children• Children’s CDS:

– Shorter MLU and fewer questions than children’sADS

– Contains many directives and attention-gettingstatements: ‘hey look’, ‘watch me’

– Fewer questions and scaffolding than adults’ CDS• Peer group versus parent-child socialization patterns

Gender Differences in Children’sLanguage use

• Gender differences in adults’ languageuse:– Women ask more questions, utterances

that encourage responses, positive minimalresponses

– Men more likely to interrupt, ignorecomments, control topic, make directdeclarations

• When do these differences emerge?

Gender Differences in Children’sLanguage use

• Observational research in preschools:– Boys= more imperatives, more assertive in requests,

interrupt more, solve conflicts with threats– Girls = ask for help more, more polite, more indirect

requests, solve conflicts by negotiation• What are little girls and boys made of…..?

– Sugar & spice & everything nice vs. snakes & snails & puppydog tails?

• Gender-specific communication styles moreprominent in all boy or all girl play groups

• Are girls really ‘nicer’?• Gender differences in language use part of

socialization to male and female roles

Language Socialization

The study of language socialization has as itsgoal understanding how persons becomemembers of their social groups and the rolelanguage has in this process. Languagesocialization, therefore, concerns two majorareas of socialization: socialization throughthe use of language and socialization to uselanguage. (Schieffelin, 1990)

Ethnographic Approaches toLanguage Development

• Many theories of language acquisitionbased on observations in middle-classwestern culture

• Ethnographic approach: languageacquisition = culture acquisition

Cultural Determinants of Variability inConversations with Children

Status and Role of Children

Children Children ≠ ≠ conversationconversationpartnerspartners

Children = low statusChildren = low status

Children = conversationChildren = conversationpartnerspartnersChildren = high statusChildren = high status

Social Organization of Caregiving

• Who talks to children? What topics?– Western society (modern) vs. non-

Western• What kind of input from older children?

Folk Beliefs about How ChildrenLearn Language

• Children taught to speak directly byadults?

• Children learn more indirectly? Listen andpractice?

Typology of Language SocializationPatterns

Multiparty exchanges are typicalMultiparty exchanges are typicalDyadic interactions are typicalDyadic interactions are typical

Topics arise from situationTopics arise from situation Respond to child-initiated verbal Respond to child-initiated verbaland non-verbal topicsand non-verbal topics

Clarification requestsClarification requestsChild directed to notice othersChild directed to notice others

Negotiation of meaningNegotiation of meaningCooperative proposition buildingCooperative proposition building

Modeling of un-simplifiedModeling of un-simplifiedlanguagelanguage

Simplified registerSimplified register

Adapt Child to SituationAdapt Child to SituationAdapt Situation to ChildAdapt Situation to Child

Contrasting LanguageSocialization Patterns

Anglo-American cultureKaluli culture (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984)

Papua New Guinea

Anglo-American: Context

• Families:• Middle-upper/middle class - basis of

observation• Primary caregiver:

Anglo-American: Patterns

• Children = appropriate conversation partners• Frequent dyadic interactions• Belief: children learn language through use

not teaching• Families uncomfortable with competence

differentials:

Kaluli: Context (1970s)

• Traditional living situation:• Non-literate, egalitarian society• Primary caregivers:

Kaluli: Patterns (1970s)

• Babies are “helpless”, “soft”, “nounderstanding”

• Cultural dispreference for talking about whatanother might think or feel

• Language begins when child says “mother”and “breast”

• Behaviours toward infants:• When children begin to talk:

– Teaching strategies– When speaking directly to children

Language Socialization:Conclusions

• When children learn language, learn morethan grammatical code

• Impact of different socialization patterns onrate of language development?– Middle class western vs. poor third world– Pye (1983): Kiche Maya culture: slower start, but

similar levels by age 5;0• Practical implications for professionals in

multicultural context